On Jan. 30th. 1945 The luxury liner MV Wilhelm Gustloff  is packed shoulder-to-shoulder with an estimated 10,000 -12,000 refugees –7 times as many as the Titanic!  Soon after leaving its Baltic Sea port, the doomed ship is sighted by Soviet Submarine commander Alexander Marinesko. After tracking his human prey for several hours, the Soviet killer fires three torpedoes into the ship’s port side. In the panic that follows, many passengers are trampled to death as they flee to the decks.
An estimated 9343 souls perished including 5000 children.
The Wilhelm Gustloff sinks in just 45 minutes . German ships arrive quickly and pluck about 1000 survivors from the frigid waters as the cold claims the lives of all the rest. It is the greatest disaster at sea in world history, and not 1 in 1,000 people has ever heard about it!